Context

Live chat may have been optional in 2017. In 18 months' time, it's likely to be as necessary for charming guests as free wifi.

Last year, 1.6 billion people were using messaging apps to communicate. By 2021, that number’s going to be nearly 2.5 billion. A hugely significant minority of the world’s population is moving to messaging as their primary method of communication - and that has immense ramifications for how the world’s businesses navigate their guest relationships over the internet.

For hotels, messaging is uniquely important. The ‘business’ of hospitality is based on communication and relationships between people. Increased automation should not mean the loss of people-oriented service; indeed, it’s the technology of live chat that will allow hoteliers worldwide to deliver their individualised service at scale.

While almost a third of businesses in the USA are now using live chat, we’ve only fairly recently started to see widespread adoption in the hotel industry. Those that are using it, though, are seeing it revolutionise their relationships with guests - and their online conversion rates.

“At the beginning, I guess we viewed the tool as a gadget to have on our website. We didn’t expect it to be such a big avenue for converting bookings and driving more revenue.”

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Having launched Front Desk (a live chat built specifically for hoteliers) back in April, the team at Triptease are now taking their learnings public with their latest report. Filled with best practices, interviews and tips for selling rooms over live chat, the Hotelier’s Guide is an essential primer to the world of live chat for hotels.

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Triptease and tnooz hosting a workshop on Tuesday 28 November, in which Triptease founder and chief tease Charlie Osmond offered hoteliers practical advice and hints on how to make the most of the opportunities live chat provides.